Between Facts and Norms - Contributions to a ... - Blogs Unpad

166Chapter 4ditions. Such compromises provide for an arrangement that(a) is more advantageous to all than no arrangement whatever,(b) excludes free riders who withdraw from cooperation, and(c) excludes exploited parties who contribute more to the cooperativeeffort than they gain from it. Bargaining processes are tailoredfor situations in which social power relations cannot be neutralizedin the way rational discourses presuppose. The compromisesachieved by such bargaining contain a negotiated agreement( Vereinbarung) that balances conflicting interests. Whereas a rationallymotivated consensus (Einverstiindnis) rests on reasons thatconvince all the parties in the same way, a compromise can beaccepted by the different parties each for its own different reasons.However, the discursive chain of a rational will-formation wouldsnap at such points of compromise if the discourse principle couldnot be brought to bear at least indirectly on bargaining processes.This is not possible in a direct way, that is, within bargaining itself,because the parties resort to threats and promises, thereby introducinga bargaining power into their interaction. This power canrob their shared language of its illocutionary binding energies andrestrict the use oflanguage to the more or less cunning realizationof perlocutionary effects:To bargain is to engage in communication for the purpose ofjorcing orinducing the opponent to accept one's claim. To achieve this end,bargainers rely on threats and promises that will have to be executedoutside the assembly itself. Bargaining power does not derive from the"power of the better argument," but from material resources, man powerand the like. Statements asserted in a process of bargaining are made witha claim to being credible, in the sense that bargainers must try to maketheir opponents believe that the threats and promises would actually becarried out.31The discourse principle, which is supposed to secure an uncoercedconsensus, can thus be brought to bear only indirectly, namely,through procedures that regulate bargaining from the standpoint offairness. In this way, non-neutralizable bargaining power should atleast be disciplined by its equal distribution among the parties.More specifically, the negotiation of compromises should followprocedures that provide all the interested parties with an equalopportunity for pressure, that is, an equal opportunity to influence